Sunday, September 28, 2014

This
Sunday I went to Falkirk Wargames Club for their 20th Century
Warfare event.I put on an early World
War 1 Bolt Action game.It was a small
scale action set during the first week of the Battle of the Frontiers in Alsace
with a French force attacking a German blocking force at Altkirch on the road
to Mulhouse.

Altkirch and its defenders - note the MGs in the buildings

The
French had 2 more infantry squads than the Germans who had an extra MMG.It was their first game for both the French
players (Dave and Peter) and the German Player (Marco) had only played once before.

French prepare for the attack - En avant mes enfants!

Here
is the OB.The extras for each side proved
to a cavalry troop – Cuirassiers and Uhlans - which came on from reserve once a
unit had been lost.

GERMAN FORCE

1
HQ+1 TO UNITS WITHIN 6”

3
INFANTRY SQUADS EA OFFICER WITH PISTOL AND 9 RIFLEMEN

1
DISMOUNTED UHLAN TROOP – OFFICER WITH PISTOL AND 9 CARBINES

2
MMG EA 3 CREW

1
77MM FG WITH 5 CREW

PLUS
EXTRAS

German artillery about to fire

FRENCH
FORCE

2
HQ+1 TO UNITS WITHIN 6”

6
INFANTRY SQUADS EA OFFICER WITH PISTOL AND 9 RIFLEMEN

1
MMG WITH 3 CREW

1
75MM FG WITH 4 CREW

PLUS
EXTRAS

How
the game played

The
French suffered quite heavy losses from the German fire as they closed with the
Germans defending the edge of the town losing 2 of their infantry squads.The French 75 proved to be fairly ineffective
with lots of rolls of 1 and 2!The
Highlight was when both sides cavalry appeared.The French cuirassiers won the cavalry melee on the main road and then
charged and broke a German infantry unit before sweeping into town to get out
of the arc of fire of the deadly German MMGs.By that time the French had worn down and broken the other 2 German infantry
units.The cuirassiers then circled
behind the dismounted Uhlans who turned and missed with all 6 shots!We ended the game at that point as it was a clear
French victory.Who says that cavalry
has no role in 1914!

French cuirassiers advance to support the infantry

The cavalry melee- cuirassiers emerge triumphant

Everyone
agreed that it was an enjoyable game.Most
of the figures are by Renegade but the Cuirassiers, French command, French 75
and dismounted Uhlans are by Great War Miniatures.I allowed cavalry units which had not acted
to countercharge as a reaction.The
other changes to the rules are below with the weapon chart.

Mein Gott! French cavalry where are our horses Fritz?

WEAPON

RANGE

SHOTS

PEN

HE HITS

HE PINS

HE PEN

SPECIAL

Rifle

24

1

n/a

Carbine

20

1

n/a

Pistol

6

1

n/a

Assault

German MMG

36

4

n/a

Team, Fixed

French MMG

36

3

n/a

Team, Fixed

French 75mm

0-60

1

D6/D3

D2

2

Team, Fixed, Howitzer

German 77mm

0-60

1

D6/D3

D2

1

Team, Fixed, Howitzer

ALL TROOPS
ARE REGULAR

CAVALRY IN
HAND TO HAND GET 2 ATTACKS VS INFANTRY AND 1 AGAINST CAVALRY

Friday, September 26, 2014

It
has been a week for varied games.On
Wednesday evening I went to Dave Paterson’s shed for a game of Dead Man’s
Hand.Once again Dave amazed me with the
quality of the terrain he puts out for his games.My posse of 3 lawmen did not do that well in any
of the 3 scenes we played losing a character in each of the first two games and
two including my Sherif in the 3rd game.

View over the town

More of the town

On
Thursday I took my collection of Pirates of the Caribbean ships along to Hugh
Wilson’s and the 6 players played a series of 4 rounds of 2 player games
each.I umpired. The factions I can put
out are the English, Americans, French, Spanish, Pirates and Cursed

Americans vs Spanish- Spanish won

Pirates vs French - French won

It was the first time I have used the
ships.I bought them several years ago
when they were being sold off in my local discount bookshop.I spent a few days last week building about
50 of the ships.Over the series of
games I added in more terrain and mysterious islands to the setups. The Spanish and English both won 3 of their games. Everyone seemed to enjoy the simple rules and
the ships look good.We will try it again
– next time I will add in unique treasures, crews and possibly personalities.This Sunday I am putting on an August 1914 Bolt Action game.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Last Monday Colin Jack and Ray Neal
visited for a game and I decided to start my long term project of playing all
the scenarios in the Black Powder Rebellion Supplement with Breeds Hill 17th
June 1775. Better known to history as the Battle of Bunker Hill which is actually the next hill along the Charlestown Peninsula.

Howe's brigade closes on the rebel redoubt

We used the troop ratings and rules
suggested in the scenario except for one change in that I reduced the stamina of the British Line
units to the standard value of 3.The
rebels in the redoubt have a +2 morale modifier, ignore retire results and
count as sharpshooters when shooting downhill.All the British infantry are Superbly Drilled whilst the Elites are also
Elite 4+.We used full scale ranges but as suggested due
to the rough terrain reduced infantry moves to 8”.We used the alternate turn sequence.

Bunker under ineffective howitzer fire - militia are steady

The long struggle for Charlestown

Colin and I commanded the British
while Mr Ray commanded the Patriots as he is from Connecticut.The Patriots deployed as per the scenario
with the 4 large militia units and their gun holding the defences and the 3 tiny detachments
deployed in the 3 building elements representing Charlestown.My brigade Howe’s deployed on the British
right to attack the left front of the redoubt.Colin deployed 2 of Pigot’s battalions to attack Charlestown whilst the
others were to move on the right front of the redoubt.My brigade made good headway up the hill but
Colin’s command never got more than a single move in its command rolls.His units attacking Charlestown got bogged
down in a long melee attempting to take the first built up area from its tiny
unit of defenders.

First British assault goes in - wins next round!

Mr Ray considers the worsening situation at the redoubt

Meanwhile my command had closed with
the redoubt and my first unit charged in – it drew with the defenders - but
next turn the militia broke and fled.Mr
Ray had to move the unit defending the fence line to face the breakthrough.The broke the British unit which had entered
the redoubt but the redcoats had then flanked another defending unit which also
broke.Colin’s units advancing on the
left front of the redoubt had finally got into action and shook the militia
facing them.Mr Ray’s rolls for
reinforcements were very poor and only a single unit arrived to support the
redoubt.His command was broken and he
conceded the game.The British lost 2
units in the battle.

End situation at the redoubt - rebels shaken and disordered

The Patriots were extremely limited in
their manoeuvrability/flexibility due to their large units once the British
broke into the redoubt.I think it would
be better if they had 4 standard units and 2 small units

Friday, September 5, 2014

As
my wife was away in London Dave Paterson invited me to the latest weekly
Wednesday evening game in his shed.This
was a 15mm SciFi game to test the Fireteam Andromeda rules.Once again Dave setup some superb terrain for
the game. Mark Taylor and I commanded the NeoSovs whilst Guy Hunter and Steve Caffrey commanded the Federals. Dave umpired.

NeoSov APCs advance into the settlement

NeoSov troops parade before the action - the hovertanks did not last long

The highlight of the game for
me was when my NeoSov hover APCs managed to knock out 2 of the enemy heavy
tanks with flank shots.An
enjoyable game – the rules work but more than one of us should have read them first.

NeoSov commander watches his holographic tactical display

Federal heavy tanks fall victim to the flanking fire of the well handled NeoSov APCs

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

On
Saturday I went to Shedfest 5 which Dave Paterson staged in his shed and
garden.It was a day of eating, drinking and
gaming.The game Dave setup was something very different for me - a superb
15mm Zombie Apocalypse game.The
objective was for the 9 player characters to run the gauntlet of the zombie
infested Anytown to reach the heliport were a helicopter would take the first
survivor to arrive to safety.In 6 hours
of play not one of us got to the helicopter – I was lucky my character was killed only once.

﻿

View from the start point over Anytown - still strangely clear of zombies

A
was a good fun game.The rules Dave has
developed fit on a single A4 page and cover special events, generating and moving zombies,
weapons, combat, searching buildings etc.

Some of the 200 zombies wandering along North Street

Thanks
to Dave for the excellent breakfast to dinner catering and the endless supply
of zombie punch.I walked home in a
happy state.

Zombies surround the impressive mayor's house - my doomed character at the left on his red base